Billy

Billy is a local AI coding assistant designed specifically for use in the terminal, offering developers a fully offline alternative to cloud-based coding assistants. The tool operates entirely on the user's machine via Ollama, ensuring that no data leaves the device and that all AI inference is performed locally. This approach emphasizes privacy, as there is zero telemetry and no network calls during operation. Billy is positioned as an alternative to GitHub Copilot CLI, catering to those who prefer a local-first, subscription-free solution for coding assistance.

Among its notable features, Billy includes an agentic mode that can propose shell commands and, with user approval, execute them. The assistant is capable of reading command outputs, self-debugging, and iterating until tasks are completed. It also incorporates a memory system, allowing users to instruct Billy to remember specific information—such as programming language versions—which it will then automatically inject into future conversations. Full session history is supported, enabling users to resume past sessions and manage conversation context through commands like /history and /compact. Model switching is available, permitting users to change between any Ollama-supported models on the fly and pull new models without leaving the application. 5-coder, codellama, deepseek-coder, llama3, mistral, and others accessible via Ollama.

Billy is available for installation on macOS, Linux, and Windows. zip files for Windows, while CLI versions are distributed via installation scripts, Homebrew for macOS/Linux, and Scoop for Windows. Release archives are also available on GitHub. The tool ships as an open-core application, with the full local CLI, agent mode, memory, history, and custom backend support included by default. There is no subscription required, and the project is funded through optional setup help, sponsorships, donations, and the planned release of future convenience bundles. The core functionality remains open and ad-free, with paid options designed for additional convenience rather than restricting access.